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Guide · the program calculates every number

Online sports betting: how a bet works and where it is legal

A sports bet is an amount placed on a result, with odds set beforehand. If you pick right, you get amount × odds; if not, you lose it. Here is how to read the odds, the most common markets, what the betting site keeps, and in which provinces it is legal.

Sample slip

Talleres - Belgrano · 1X2

Your pick
Home (Talleres)
Odds
2.10
Amount
$ 1,000
If it wins, you get
$ 2,100
Profit
$ 1,100
If it doesn't win
you lose $ 1,000

Made-up odds, not from a real site

A bet, step by step

with the sample slip

  1. You choose a match and a market

    Talleres - Belgrano, 1X2 market: the home team wins, a draw, or the away team wins.

  2. You look at the odds

    Decimal odds already include your stake: $ 1,000 × 2.10 = $ 2,100 if Talleres wins. The profit is $ 1,100.

  3. You convert them to a probability

    1 / 2.10 = 47.6%. For that bet to be even, Talleres would have to win 47.6% of the time.

  4. You add up the market

    The three odds (2.10 · 3.20 · 3.60) imply 47.62% + 31.25% + 27.78% = 106.65%. What goes over 100% is the betting site's margin: 6.65%.

  5. It is settled at the end

    According to the site's rules: in soccer, check whether the market counts extra time and penalties. You win, you lose, or, in some markets, your stake is returned.

Odds and probability

the higher the odds, the less likely the result

  • 1.25$ 1,25080.0%
  • 1.50$ 1,50066.7%
  • 2.00$ 2,00050.0%
  • 3.00$ 3,00033.3%
  • 5.00$ 5,00020.0%

Decimal odds, how much you get with $ 1,000, and the implied probability (1 / odds).

What it tells you and what it doesn't

Implied probability is the one the betting site assigns to the result, with its margin included. It is not the real probability and does not say who will win.

Convert any odds to probability, fractional or American

The most common markets

sample odds; the bar is the implied probability

1X2: who wins

Three results: 1 home win, X draw, 2 away win.

  • Home (1)2.1047.6%
  • Draw (X)3.2031.3%
  • Away (2)3.6027.8%

Add up to 106.65% · margin 6.65%

Home at 2.10: with $ 1,000 you get $ 2,100 if you pick right.

Over/under goals

Whether the match ends with more or fewer goals than the line. With 2.5 there is no draw: 3 goals or more is “over”.

  • Over 2.51.8554.1%
  • Under 2.51.9551.3%

Add up to 105.34% · margin 5.34%

Over 2.5 at 1.85: with $ 1,000 you get $ 1,850 if you pick right.

Both teams to score

Yes: both teams score at least one goal. No: at least one stays at zero.

  • Yes1.8055.6%
  • No1.9551.3%

Add up to 106.84% · margin 6.84%

Yes at 1.80: with $ 1,000 you get $ 1,800 if you pick right.

Asian handicap

It adds or subtracts goals for a team before the result is checked. With quarter lines, half the amount goes on each neighboring line.

Talleres −0.75 at 1.90, ends 2-1: half wins, half is returned

Of $ 1,000, $ 1,450 comes back: $ 500 at 1.90 and $ 500 returned.

Every line and every result, in a table

Parlay

Several selections on one slip: the odds are multiplied and all of them have to win.

  1. Talleres wins 2.10
  2. Over 2.5 goals in Rosario Central - Newell's 1.85
  3. Both teams to score in Estudiantes - Gimnasia 1.80

Total odds 2.10 × 1.85 × 1.80 = 6.99 · getting all 3 right: 1 in 8.4

With $ 1,000 you get $ 6,993 if all of them win; the betting site keeps 16.7% on average, more than on each single bet.

Calculate your parlay

Live betting and cash out

the same slip, at minute 60

Live betting

During the match the odds change with every goal, card or minute that passes. If Talleres is winning 1-0, the live 1X2 could be 1.40 · 4.20 · 7.50.

  • Home (1)1.4071.4%
  • Draw (X)4.2023.8%
  • Away (2)7.5013.3%

Total 108.57% · margin 8.57%. In live betting the site also takes its cut, and odds change in seconds.

Cash out: closing before the end

It is an offer from the site to pay you part of the value now and close your bet. The site decides the amount. What to compare it with:

  1. Your ticket$ 1,000 at 2.10 → $ 2,100
  2. Home team's probability without the margin, live65.8%
  3. What your ticket is worth on average$ 2,100 × 65.8% = $ 1,382

If you are offered less than $ 1,382, the difference is what the site charges for closing early. Whether to accept is your decision: neither option wins in the long run.

The margin: what the site keeps

$ 938come back on average for every $ 1,000 bet on the sample 1X2 (margin 6.65%)payout = 1 / 1.0665

Why you lose in the long run

The site pays a little less than an outcome's probability would imply. One bet can go well; many bets, on average, leave the margin with the site. In the sample parlay, the site keeps 16.7%.

Measure the margin of any market

Before you bet

  1. Adults 18 and over only

    The age the provinces require on their official pages. What each one says.

  2. A site from your province's list

    The exact address, letter by letter. Paste it into the checker.

  3. A limit you can afford to lose

    Decide it beforehand and do not raise it to win money back. If you cannot stop, ask for self-exclusion. How to ask for it.

Next

01Odds calculator02Margin calculator03Parlay calculator04Asian handicap, line by line05Betting glossary06How to verify a site